Rob Levit is and has been one of the pioneering musicians in free-jazz, but he's also one of those rare cats that are open and welcoming towards experimentation. He is an internationally acclaimed and multiple awards recipient guitar player, composer, painter, educator and poet whose works, lessons, gigs and residencies have brought him to Boston, Baltimore, Annapolis (Maryland) and of course the capital of it all: New York City. Levit is not new to experimentation. He is currently signed to Silver Apples' Simeon's label Whirlybird records. He has been making music forever and has been taking guitar playing to a whole new level. He might not be as ground-breaking as the awesome Stanley Jordan, he might not be as extreme as the terrific David Torn, he might not be as fragmented as the great Allan Holdsworth, but I'll tell you what... he's completely different, he too is on another planet, just a different planet. Old preconceptions are canned when somebody starts playing like this and starts gently wrestling with uncommon sonics. His new instrument of love seems to be the computer now. So that is where you draw the line. If you are reading this review because you've been studing off the Real Book for decades and your idea of jazz doesn't go beyond the majestic Miles Davis (which is totally cool with me, don't get me wrong) and you can't possibly comprehend why John Zorn has got to make all that rabbish on stage, then you might wanna move on to Teraesa Vinson's new album (another beautiful jazz album, if I may say so). But if you are indeed looking for the next step in improvisational mayhem and you don't mind if this comes wrapped in a thick layer of electronic music then go on. Go on if you like extreme things such as Ernesto Diaz-Infante, Peter Frohmader, Hector Zazou, Apell, Rich West, Hans Teuber, Paul Rucker, Frank Gingeleit, Jeff Kaiser, Robert Fripp, Marc Ribot, Guillaume Cazenave and the whole Musea recordings catalogue, Form of Things Unknown and so on... but hell, even Displacer, Boards of canada, Photophb, Terminal Sound System etc. This eclectic and multifaceted artist has found inspiration through the broadening of his musical horizons. Those who knew him for his jazz music might very well be shocked if they were to listen to these "electronic soundscapes". You get it all here: ambient soundscapes, idm beats, d'n'b breakbeats, glitch-electronica, classical music, free-jazz, progressive, avantgard, experimental, trance and dark. As you might comprehend it is really hard to describe 22 songs and 2 CDs for a total of almost 2 and a half hours, especially when these songs are so drastically various and dramatically evolving. If I had to pick out what I don't like about this record, it would be the length. I understand that an artist needs space (by the way, the art work is his paintings too), but I think the same could have been said in one CD, with a conciseness which would have made it even more affordable (not financially speaking, that is). Eclecticism is key word to understanding here. You can't possibly stop at the third tune, you've got to go through all the cuts to begin understanding where he's coming from. It's a great proof of devotion towards barrier-breaking, genre-bending and cross-over (I haven't used that word since Faith No More's albums in the nineties I think ;-)) music. I wouldn't mind at all working with this guy. It's fresh and out there. It's the all new Rob Levit. Enjoy.